Fashion insiders have been seeking out Sacai designer Chitose Abe's wearable, cool clothes for over 15 years. And for good reason: Abe worked under fellow Japanese designers Junya Watanabe and Rei Kawakubo before venturing out on her own, which might explain her knack for creating highly conceptual clothes that are also functional. Though she might have trained under two of fashion's greatest talents, she brings a twist to the classics that is all her own. In more recent years, the fashion set has been able to get to know her work and aesthetic much more, since Abe started showing her collection during Paris Fashion Week. Cue: The onset of the Sacai moment, which has been going since her fall 2013 collection inspired rave reviews. (It also helped that Karl Lagerfeld declared Sacai "the most interesting brand of the moment.")

We caught up with the designer while she was in New York last week for her first-ever Barneys New York trunk show (at the Madison Avenue flagship) to discuss Karl, Rei, and breaking the fashion mold.

You haven't been to the States in over seven years. What finally brought you back?

I had the opportunity to collaborate with Barneys—[the store] has been supporting me for almost 10 years for several events in NYC and in L.A.

Karl Lagerfeld is one of your greatest fans. Do you talk to Karl regularly?

We actually have never met in person, but we have exchanged notes and flowers over the last couple of seasons.

Your brand has experienced a lot growth in recent years. What do you attribute to that?

Even though I only started doing presentations and shows just several years ago, I have been in business for 15 years and have been very fortunate to have had the world's best retailers buying my collection. However, since I started doing presentations and shows during Paris Fashion Week, it's given my collection greater visibility to a wider audience.

Prior to launching your own line, you spent a lot of time working under Rei Kawakubo and then with Junya Watanabe. What are some of the most important things you learned from them?

Aesthetically, my collection may be different from theirs, but I do believe in the importance of creating something new and different. I am also the founder and owner of my company.

You have never been one to follow the fashion mold, so we're curious, what are your thoughts on shifting to a model where you show the clothes and then they are available almost immediately for sale? Would you ever do it?

I think the invention of the Internet is great, and I like the idea that people can have access to see my shows immediately, but logistically speaking from a production point of view, I would not be able to produce my clothes that quickly.